MURFREESBORO — When you lose your leading scorer, it becomes a little difficult to close out games.

That’s been evident during the MTSU’s men’s basketball team's recent losses to Georgia State and South Dakota State.

MTSU guard and leading scorer Giddy Potts has been sidelined for both of those games because of academic issues, head coach Kermit Davis said.

Potts is out for an undetermined time, and it’s the academic institution’s decision as to when he’ll be back, Davis said.

“He’s working though academic issues, and when you’re without your leading scorer, it’s hard,” Davis said.

Potts leads MTSU in scoring at 14.8 points per game and is second in rebounding with 6.2 per game.

“We’ve really tried everybody and we needed (guards) Ed Simpson and Jaqawn Raymond to step up, but they’ve struggled these past two games,” Davis said. “They don’t have to do fantastic things, just step up.”

Davis added that veteran players such as forwards Perrin Buford, Reggie Upshaw and Darnell Harris (who led the Blue Raiders in scoring against South Dakota State) will have to turn it up a notch with Potts out.

Harris is second on the team in scoring with 13 points per game.

The Blue Raiders will look to close 2015 with a win on Wednesday when they host Trevecca in the team’s final non-conference game. Davis said not much will change ahead of the Conference USA slate that begins in January.

“Your rotation and all of that changes when a guy like Potts is out of the rotation,” Davis said. “But your gameplan doesn’t. We’ve played eight out of 11 (regular season) games away from the Murphy Center against some really tough teams.

“I think it’ll prepare us for the rest of our schedule.”

The Blue Raiders host the Trojans at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Murphy Center. The first Conference USA game will be Sunday, when MTSU travels to UAB.